Should I Take A Deposit

The challenges of taking a deposit and enforcing your policies is real, and it is often a complicated boundary.  I encourage you to think about it from both sides of the table and maintain some flexibility in your policies.

The booking softwares that are available have such easy and secure scheduling options, that most people are comfortable booking online and entering their payment information.  This is why I require a deposit at our flagship studio even for those who are not comfortable giving their credit or debit card information over the phone.  

There are a few options I give to people who don't want to give a payment form over the phone: 

1. "That is no problem, I confirmed that the day and time you requested are available and I am happy to stay on the phone with you while you book it online in case you run into any issues."
2. "I understand your apprehension about giving your payment information (especially as a first time client), and we can treat this appointment as a walk-in. Just give us a call when you are about 20 minutes away and we will let you know what we have available and how long the wait time is for the particular service you are requesting."
3. "I understand that you are driving (or traveling), and I can send you an invoice that you can pay when you are at a secure place.  You appointment will be confirmed and held when the invoice is paid and you will receive a confirmation text or email. (the booking system should have this capability)."

I feel like those options will allow the client to feel in control and that they have a choice in matter, even though the end result is the same.

If you are going to take a deposit, you must have a policy in place for how and when that deposit is refundable, and you must deliver this information in several ways.  The booking software (Vagaro) will even add our cancellation and late policy in the online booking process so the client has to acknowledge it before they can continue booking.  This is a wonderful feature for those who say they didn't know the policy.

We have a 24 hour cancellation policy and a 7 minute late policy for airbrush tans in studio.  (I'll explain more about the 7 minutes in another blog post)

Here comes the complications:

• What will be your policy if a client calls and says they woke up sick?  Or if their child is sick?
• A client calls and the nanny or babysitter cancelled and now they don't have child care.
• Weather condition prevents them from getting to you or your studio
• Bad traffic or an accident 

There are so many reasons for a client to cancel their appointment last minute or need to reschedule it to a different day, and there is no right answer to how to handle these situations.  I would suggest that you consider some of the following concepts.

A few questions to ask yourself:

1.) How would I want to be treated by a business in this situation?

2.) Is this a habit for this particular client?

3.) Is this a first time client, and how do you want them to feel about your business?

4.) Will you loose future revenue from this client if they are upset by your decision?

5.) Is their request reasonable and by making an exception will you be crating a lifelong client?